No 1 for Best Three Smiles
by Keisuke Cloudberry
Summary: The demon ace ponders on the best three smiles he had ever seen in his life.


Title: No. 1 for Best Three Smiles

Summary: The demon ace ponders on the best three smiles he had ever seen in his life.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, it all belongs to Konomi-sama.

Pairings: Kirihara/Ann and Yukimura/Sanada if you squeeze real hard.

- - -

Kirihara had seen three great smiles in his life…

No, there were actually four great smiles he had seen. That fourth was supposed to be the third but since he saw another great one just recently and considered it the best, the fourth had automatically been dropped out of his list. That fourth belonged to Fuji Syuusuke. It was almost the same as Yukimura-buchou's gentle smile, calming and heart warming. He liked it almost as much as his buchou's smile albeit he still liked Yukimura Seiichi's smile better.

The third one belonged to his _dear _Fukubuchou, Sanada Genichirou. He didn't think it was gentle or anything, he actually thought of it as humorous or creepy or just plain weird. It wasn't heartwarming at all, he thought. It was just plain funny that he and the other sempais (Niou and Marui, to be exact.) laugh at it. It was just a source of entertainment for him because he thought that Sanada Fukubuchou looked out of character whenever he smiled at Yukimura. And that only happened whenever they were secretly together alone in the clubroom. It was rare, and he was pretty sure that Sanada would give him a nice little slap when he finds out he's been secretly spying on them and laughing whenever the said Fukubuchou smiled.

Second for the best three smiles belonged to none other than Yukimura Seiichi. Kirihara had always felt comfortable seeing buchou's gentle and loving smile. Whenever buchou smiled at him, he felt really relaxed and safe. It was just so…gentle and heart warming and…motherly. Well, for him that is. He liked it a lot and he wished he could see it forever. It's too bad that Yukimura-buchou and the others were graduating soon. He'll really miss it once they leave for high school. At first, he considered this the best but since another one appeared it had instantly dropped to number two. He still liked it anyhow.

And, the best smile he had ever seen his entire life, the number one, the rarest, even rarer than Fuku-buchou's, the brightest and the most heartwarming belonged to a certain clipped brunette named Tachibana Ann. He didn't really know how her smile made it in his list, not at all. He barely knew her after all.

It all started during the Senbatsu training camp that happened recently. The day that they had really met and officially talk to each other there wasn't really pleasant. She made him fall off the stairs, causing him much injuries and bruises. And the weird thing is, he didn't get angry with her, even after she didn't help him and ran away. Usually he'd hold a grudge against a person who had hurt him. What's even weirder was that he protected her from the other regulars whom tried to ask him who let him fall off the stairs. He didn't say anything nor give them any clues on who was the real culprit. He simply told them that it was his own stupidity and continued on with the camp.

Next thing he knew, the same girl was standing right in front of him, with her head bowed down and continuously voicing apologies to him one peaceful night inside the camp. The night was almost the same with the first time they talked. At first, he was stunned; he couldn't do anything as well but watch her in silence. He also wanted to talk to her and say sorry. He actually wanted to tell her the opposite thing he said before. He felt bad for injuring her brother, he felt bad that he looked like a jerk to her and he felt bad that she had to suffer. He scratched his head and nodded in agreement to what she was explaining. She looked up to him, surprised that he wasn't actually going to say something rude or snide like he did before. He just looked away and nodded to everything she says. He forgave her and she forgave him. She then wiped her tears that seemed to have accumulated a while ago and gave him a bright smile. Seeing this, his face started to grow a bit red. It made him…unexplainably happy that his lips formed a smile as well.

After that, they had never had a chance to meet each other again, with him playing for the Goodwill games and Ann taking care of her brother in the hospital. He thought he would never see her smile again, he thought it was the prettiest, but the rarest at the same time.

_That was then that he thought he saw the best smile in his entire life._

- - -

"Here you go!" A cheery girl offered Kirihara a cone of strawberry ice cream.

"Thank you…" Kirihara said and accepted the cone. "…Tachibana…"

"So, where would you like to go next?" She asked all too enthusiastically, licking her own chocolate ice cream. "Movies? Amusement park? Zoo?"

"Anywhere you'd like." He simply replied and continued to walk beside her.

She put on a thoughtful look, thinking of where she'd really want to go. "How about the amusement park then? I'd love to ride the roller coaster with you."

"Sounds good." He said and looked at her straight in the eye. She looked back at him innocently, wondering what he's thinking about.

"Hey, Ann…" Kirihara started.

"Hmm?"

"Wanna switch ice creams?" He suggested hesitantly. Ann blinked.

"I wanted to taste strawberry as well so I guess it'd be okay." She said and agreed. "I'm really happy that you asked me out today, we haven't seen each other since camp…"

"Thank you, Kirihara-kun!" She smiled brightly at him. He smiled back and nodded.

_And maybe…Just maybe, after this, that smile won't be rare to him again._

_:o-OWARI-o:_


End file.
